The invention relates generally to firearms, and, more particularly, to a closing spring assembly for a handgun.
Reference is made to German Patent 437,959.
Prior closing spring assemblies must be removed when their associated handgun is dismantled. However, the spring centering rod should not itself be dismantled, or it should not be dismantled any further for the time being, because it is too difficult to reassemble the closing spring assembly. The closing spring assembly is usually held together inseparably by a locking washer which is pressed into a ring groove close to the free end of the rod where it is secured elastically. Such locking washers are included in DIN 6799, for example.
These locking washers serve only to hold the closing spring assembly together after it has been removed from the weapon. These locking washers do not have any other function. They do not absorb any forces when the assembly group is installed.
A typical example of such a closing spring assembly is the closing spring device of self-loading or automatic guns with a Colt-Browning safety lock. In such guns a catch piece is fixedly mounted on the rear end of a spring centering rod. A helical closing ring is pushed onto the rod itself. This is followed by a ring-shaped spring supporting plate or washer, which is referred to here in general as an assembly part. In the unloaded state, the spring is longer than the spring centering rod. As a result, assembly of the closing spring assembly is rather tricky. To facilitate assembly, a ring groove is provided in the forward end of the spring centering rod. A locking washer is positioned in the ring groove. When the closing spring assembly is removed from the weapon, the closing spring, when compressed slightly, presses the spring supporting plate against the locking washer, but it cannot slide down off the spring centering rod. When assembled, the closing spring assembly is inserted from beneath into the slides of the gun which already hold the barrel. The closing spring assembly is then pushed slightly forward and locked in the lock body at the end of the barrel. In this installed state, the closing spring is compressed slightly more than previously, so that the load on the locking washer is released.
However, it has been found that some locking washers break or come off during use of the gun. They evidently do not survive the vibration applied to the spring centering rod during firing. The function of the gun is not usually impaired, but it is much more difficult to reassemble the gun after breaking it down the next time after the washer has fallen off.
The locking washers that have broken or come off and the respective ring groove have of course been investigated and studied in detail, but no irregularities have been discovered. Therefore, the possibility has been considered that the customer might have removed the locking washer from the gun incorrectly, thereby damaging it and then inserting it again. However, inquiries with these customers have not confirmed this assumption.
Furthermore, there has also been an increased frequency of damage incidents involving the locking washers of specific manufacturers, although no reasonable generalization could be formulated to track down the cause of these damage incidents.
The simplest solution would be to include a bag of locking washers (a penny item) with each gun shipped. However, this would to some extent be equivalent to admitting that the gun shipped is damaged or at least not well designed, and, in any case, can create the impression that the weapon is not completely reliable. Since customers demand the greatest reliability, this idea has been discarded.
A retaining arrangement of the type described herein is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,310, but it is described in a different context.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a spring closing assembly is provided which is adapted to be selectively installed and removed from a firearm. The spring closing assembly includes a rod having a free forward end; and an assembly part which is dimensioned to be pushed onto the rod. The assembly also includes at least one projecting part located in proximity to the free forward end of the rod. The at least one projecting part is displaced from a resting position when the assembly part is pushed onto the free forward end of the rod and thereafter returns to the resting position with the assembly part mounted on the rod The at least one projecting part is in retaining engagement with the assembly part when (a) the at least one projecting part is in the resting position, (b) the assembly part is mounted on the rod, and (c) the spring closing assembly is removed from the firearm.
Other features and advantages are inherent in the disclosed apparatus or will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and its accompanying drawings.